There are myriad different chemical and physical processing methods employed in modern societies for modifying, separating, purifying, mixing, and processing fluids. Many such processes provide enormous economic benefits, but may also involve significant costs and undesirable side effects and inefficiencies. One family of fluid-processing operations is employed in petroleum refining, discussed below. Others include salt-water desalination, water purification, various industrial chemical reactions, separation of desired metallic particulates from slurries produced in mining operations, and many others.
FIG. 1 illustrates current fuel production and distribution. Crude oil is pumped from oil wells and delivered to oil refineries 102 by ships 104 and oil pipelines. The crude oil is refined at oil refineries, primarily by catalytic cracking of large, complex hydrocarbons to produce various lower-molecular-weight hydrocarbons and by fractionation, to produce various different types of fuel, including kerosene, diesel fuel, and gasoline. Each type of fuel is characterized by various parameters, including flash point, volatility, viscosity, octane rating, and chemical composition. In general, the fractionation process selects a molecular-weight range of alkane, alkene, and non-aliphatic crude oil components which results in each fraction having desired fuel characteristics, including desired flash points, volatilities, viscosities, and octane ratings. Gasoline and diesel fuel are then delivered by truck 106 or pipeline to various distribution points, including service stations 108, where the fuel is delivered to motor vehicles.
While the above-described fuel-processing and fuel-delivery system has successfully provided fuel for motorized vehicles for nearly a century, there are certain disadvantages to the system. For example, the refining process is carried out once, at the oil refinery 102, and once the fuel leaves the oil refinery, there is no further possible processing or processing-based quality control. From a thermodynamic standpoint, fuel is a relatively high-energy and low-entropy substance, and is therefore chemically unstable. Fuel is subject to a variety of chemical-degradation processes, including oxidation, polymerization, substitution reactions, many different additional types of reactions between component molecules and between component molecules and contaminates, absorption of solid and liquid contaminants, absorption of gasses, continuous loss of more volatile components by vaporization and release of vaporized fractions, contamination with water, and many other types of processes. The potential for fuel degradation is increased by the relatively large variation in times between refining and use, the ranges of temperature and other environment conditions that the fuel may be exposed to during delivery, storage, distribution, and while contained in the fuel tanks of motorized vehicles, and by many other factors beyond the control of fuel refiners and fuel distributors. It is likely that, in many cases, the fuel actually burned in internal-combustion engines may differ in chemical composition and characteristics from the fuel originally produced at the oil refinery. In one study conducted at the University of Idaho, a 26% drop in fuel-to-energy conversion was observed at 28 days following fuel processing.
A further consideration is that vehicles differ from one another, internal-combustion engines differ from one another, other internal-combustion-engine-powered devices and vehicles, including generators, pumps, furnaces, and other mass-movement and mass-conversion systems generally differ from one another, making it difficult, if not impossible, to economically produce fuels particularly designed and tailored for a particular use. Were it possible to refine a fuel to produce a fuel optimal for any particular use, it is likely that the vehicle, including automobiles, trucks, aircraft, and trains, or other internal-combustion-engine-powered device would exhibit greater fuel efficiency and produce fewer pollutants than when running on standard, mass-produced fuel. Furthermore, the characteristics of any particular vehicle, internal-combustion engine, and/or internal-combustion-engine-powered device may change dramatically over time, as the vehicle, internal-combustion engine, and/or internal-combustion-engine-powered device ages, and may also change dramatically depending on the extent and types of use and conditions under which the is vehicle, internal-combustion engine, and/or internal-combustion-engine-powered device operated.
For these and other reasons, fuel producers and distributors, motorized-vehicle designers and manufacturers, airlines, train company, transportation companies, heating oil users and distributers, fuel-storage providers, the boating industry, those involved with salvaging contaminated or degraded fuel, and, ultimately, direct and indirect consumers of fuel seek new approaches to modifying and restoring fuel following initial refinement of the fuel. In similar fashion, those involved in myriad other fluid-processing operations continue to seek new approaches to carrying out the operations in more cost-effective and efficient manners.